This is a true story.

The AP announced last month that it would use Automated Insights’ software, called Wordsmith, to produce up to 4,440 robot-written corporate-earnings reports per quarter, more than ten times the number its human reporters currently produce.

Here’s a sample of a story generated automatically:

Alcoa Inc. (AA) on Tuesday reported a second-quarter profit of $138 million, reversing a year-ago loss, and the results beat analysts’ expectation. The company reported strong results in its engineered-products business, which makes parts for industrial customers, while looking to cut costs in its aluminum-smelting segment.

This is just an example of what’s coming. As intelligence modeling becomes steadily more sophisticated, the ability to automatically generate news stories will become mainstream. To me, the key to a life lived happily alongside our robotic comrades is control. As long as we purposely concede day-to-day burdensome tasks to artificial intelligences, no worries.

The problem begins when the dynamic shifts and we impoverish ourselves purely for a more efficient bottom line. The decision of which tasks to automate are never made based on human need. Those decisions are always made in an effort to reduce costs. And that’s the snake that might bite us in the ass.

Discuss.